Sarah Kidner explores our fascination with robots, looks at their past and ponders the robotic future. What have a Czech playwright, 15th century artist Leonardo da Vinci and the future o

Build your own robot explorer.

Humanoid robots could also take robotics back to the factory floor in the 21st century. Theres a very pragmatic engineering reason to build humanoid robots, and thats because most of our environment h

Isaac Asimov would approve.

Spybotics isn't the general-purpose robotics kit of Mindstorms, but it offers similar fun.

The biggest problem with modern robotics is not the mechanisms, its the intelligence behind the mechanisms. Matching the human sense of balance is a major challenge, for example. Enter cy

Corporates muscle in on competition.

Fictional depictions such as these are startlingly accurate, since sci-fi has paved the way for our acceptance of each generation of robots. Capeks prophecies were fulfilled when robots made their fir

Arctic Monkeys flashback to 1984.

World robot Olympics start today.

Reaching the places where human beings cant travel would later propel robotic arms millions of miles away from the factory floor. It started with the creation of the six-jointed, robotic Stanford Arm,

Theres another, equally important, purpose to making humanoids such as Cog human: interaction with other human beings. For human/robot interaction, its good to have something that looks vaguely human

Each month we put together a list of the technology and trends that have made us sit up and take notice.

Ever wondered what a particular acronym stands for? Find the answer in our comprehensive reference guide to computer industry acronyms. RTFM!

RedOwl system traces shots to their source.

University of Manchester to build brain style computer.

Humanoid robots arent a new concept. Perhaps the first appearance of a humanoid robot was Elektro, who appeared at the 1939 World Trade Fair in New York. Elektro danced, counted to ten, smoked and rav

Everyone likes standards, but standards mean compromises. Tim Dean looks at whether they're worth the trade off.

If it breeds, mutates and consumes resources, then it's a threat. Tim Dean thinks your Aibo may be more sinister than it looks.